Thanksgiving & Commissioning Service
November 19, 2022
Dear Friends,
This past week, our church celebrated our thanks to the Lord for this year’s provisions as well as His calling from our midst, Yago and Manoela Guedes, to go to Portugal as missionaries. We had a commissioning service for them and a Thanksgiving banquet at the same event. It was truly a joyous occasion. It was the first time that our entire church could get together at the same time and location for nearly two years. We met at a church member’s farm that has a pavilion that was large enough for us all. Yago and Manoela will have arrived in Foz do Arelho, Portugal by the time you are reading this letter. We will be praying for them and seeking to support their ministry efforts as they seek to reach the spiritually lost there. There is less than 1 percent of born-again believers in Portugal and this young couple will greatly need the Lord’s wisdom and power in sharing the gospel and winning lost souls. Please pray with us and for them as they seek to serve the Lord and obey His commission. If you believe the Lord is guiding you to aid this couple, you may contribute with the memo: “Wacaser-Portugal Mission”.
It has been many years since I have had any health issues and I am extremely grateful. These past two weeks, though, I have struggled with laryngitis and have had to call on my co-pastors to preach in my place. I haven’t felt very ill, but my voice was too weak and raspy to communicate without being a distraction. I am grateful to be able to count on these young men who are doing an excellent job of faithfully delivering the Word. I seem to be much better today (Saturday) and intend to preach at both services tomorrow. Challenges like this are great reminders to me of just how much I depend on the Lord for every large and small grace. I pray for His strength and ability to honor Him with my mind and my voice.
Just a little reminder that in Brazil, below the Equator, we are entering into our summer months and the 3-month school break. Since the public schools are our traveling evangelistic team’s main venue for outreach, we change our focus during this period to assist the home church with the Christmas program and to minister to the poor and homeless in our own city. The volunteers who are from other cities will get a couple of weeks to return home to visit with their families on the holidays but will return shortly after New Year’s Day to begin preparing for the outreach trips scheduled for next year. The Lord blessed greatly this past year as we were privileged to share the gospel to over 40,000 people in public venues. Thousands of those who heard responded by surrendering their lives to Christ. All honor and glory to our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ!
Charlene and I are so thankful for the faithful prayers and support on our behalf. We humbly acknowledge and recognize that you sacrifice from what you could use in any number of ways but choose to give so that we may minister here. We thank the Lord for you and pray that you may be eternally and richly blessed.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
Contact Info:
Bobby & Charlene Wacaser
Rua Laudelino Ferreira Lopes, 279
Sobrado 1, Novo Mundo
81050-310 Curitiba, PR. Brasil
Phone: 55-41-99899-2333
bobbymichael_1@hotmail.com
For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280
Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online
Read more
Young Couple Headed to Portugal as Missionaries
October 22, 2022
Dear Friends,
The young couple from our church, Yago and Manoela, have received their work visas to go to Portugal and have already purchased their airline tickets for November 22. Our church will be hosting a sending off meeting and gift shower before they travel. Their visas came out a couple of months sooner than expected, but this is good news, and they will be able to get settled in Portugal before the Christmas holidays. We are still praying and discussing ministry strategy with them and are guiding our church in how and how much we can support them. If you believe that the Lord is leading you or your church to partner with us in their support, feel free to contribute with a designated offering “Wacaser-Portugal Mission”.
Our home church just held an evangelistic drama presentation based on the story of Esther in the Bible. We had over 70 of our church members involved in this presentation in one form or another. We practiced, built, painted, sewed, and recorded music and voices for over 4 months in orders to produce a quality presentation with a gospel invitation at the conclusion. We received more than a dozen public responses to the invitation at the two meetings. Our “next steps” discipleship team is following up with Bible lessons for new believers.
I traveled to meet with Projeto Vida, our itinerate evangelistic team, in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. We were thrilled to see how the Lord worked through our 12 volunteers in the public schools where we shared the gospel to 2300 students and staff within two weeks, resulting in over 140 professions of faith. The first school where our team was scheduled to minister got a message one day before our presentation that we would not be welcome. They canceled the engagement because we were evangelical (the principal is a spiritist). Almost immediately after the cancellation, we got a call from the secretary of education from a neighboring city inviting our team to come minister to a huge assembly of 4 schools at one location. We ended up reaching four times as many people than we would have reached at the other school, had it not canceled on us. The Lord’s plan is always the greatest.
Charlene and I are doing very well, and we thank you for your prayers for us and your faithful support.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
Contact Info:
Bobby & Charlene Wacaser
Rua Laudelino Ferreira Lopes, 279
Sobrado 1, Novo Mundo
81050-310 Curitiba, PR. Brasil
Phone: 55-41-99899-2333
bobbymichael_1@hotmail.com
For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280
Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online
Read more
Sending Two Missionaries to Portugal
September 19, 2022
Dear Friends,
Last month, Charlene began giving English classes again and we had one student already make a profession of faith after coming to a church service on the following Sunday. We are also having students from some of our computer classes and martial arts classes attending church as well. These classes have been a great way for us to get to know people in our community that probably wouldn’t come if we only offered Sunday worship services. We are rejoicing!
There is a young couple in our church who feel called to missions and we are preparing them to go to Portugal in the near future. Their names are Yago and Manoela. Right now, they are waiting on their work visas to Portugal to be processed. In the meantime, they are helping with various ministries at our church, and I have had Yago preach in the pulpit as well. I am super excited about our young church learning that they are also a sending body of Christ, not just a growing body of Christ. It’s not going to be easy to support them, but Yago will also be a “tent-maker”, having a secular job as computer consultant to help with their support. Charlene and I plan to go visit them after they get settled in to use our experience to help them identify some fields of opportunity for gospel outreach. Less than 1% of Portugal’s population identifies as “born again” believers in Jesus Christ. At the same time, most Portuguese people claim to have religion, just not Biblical religion. Yago and Manoela know that their work will not be easy, but they know also that the Lord will be with them to work in the hearts of those whom He will call at the preaching of the gospel.
Our travel team, Alpha, is in the middle of a three-week trip to minister in the interior of our own state, Parana, and in the next state northwest of us, Mato Grosso do Sul. They have invitations to share the gospel in several schools and I will be traveling there tomorrow to minister with them. This month we have already had the privilege to preach to over 2500 students along with their school staff. There have been hundreds of public professions of faith at these events, and we constantly receive word from school principals and local pastors of what a change they are seeing in many of those who receive Christ. We are thrilled to have this liberty still open to us and we plan to take advantage of it for as long as the Lord provides.
Charlene and I are very grateful for your faithful prayers and generous support of our ministries. Thank you very much.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
Contact Info:
Bobby & Charlene Wacaser
Rua Laudelino Ferreira Lopes, 279
Sobrado 1, Novo Mundo
81050-310 Curitiba, PR. Brasil
Phone: 55-41-99899-2333
bobbymichael_1@hotmail.com
For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280
Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online
Read more
Tampa Teens Share the Gospel, English Classes Resuming
August 9, 2022
Dear Friends,
Our church’s anniversary is on July 22nd. In celebration of its anniversary, each Sunday of that month, a different aged Bible study group gave a chorale presentation and culminated with a chorale formed with the church leaders. The church rejoiced in how God has blessed in so many ways. We have experienced phenomenal growth, by His grace.
During the month of July, we had the privilege to host a team from the Tampa, Florida area. The group consisted of 8 members who ministered with our Projeto Vida evangelistic team in 3 public schools, two drug rehab centers and in a homeless shelter. The group was very enthusiastic and helpful in each outreach effort. The Lord used them and there were many professions of faith in Christ through their sharing of the gospel. Half of the group were teenage girls who were very courageous in giving their testimonies in front of hundreds of students in middle school and high school auditoriums. I didn’t think about it at the time, but in retrospect, I’m sad that no young men/boys decided to come be a part of that group and share the gospel. In fact, we have noticed that more and more, visiting groups consist of mostly girls. Come on down, young men! Be valiant servants of the Lord! A big shout out to you young ladies who heed the call to share your faith despite the fears you face.
Our traveling evangelistic team leaves tomorrow for another two-week trip to the northwest corner of our state and then on to the Federal District where they have been invited to minister in several schools. We have the van fueled up and the team of 11 members is excited about the privilege of sharing the gospel to school staff and students. Please remember them in your prayers as they present the gospel in a variety of ways and venues. We do not take this privilege for granted because we know that it may not last long, just as it has been taken away in almost every other country in the world, including the USA. What we seek is to take advantage of it as long as it is open to us and seek to honor the Lord through the sharing of His word and love.
Because of COVID-19 the government shut down our in-person English classes back in 2020. This week Charlene is restarting one of those classes and she already has about 15 students signed up for it. The classes are offered free of charge to our community for the purpose of providing an opportunity to meet new people and share Christ’s love and gain an open door for evangelism. We have already had several conversions, baptisms, and church growth through this ministry effort in the past and we pray that this will be the result again. Please pray for Charlene as she teaches these students in the weeks and months to come.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
Annabelle 
Mandy & Mark 
Taylor
Contact Info:
Bobby & Charlene Wacaser
Rua Laudelino Ferreira Lopes, 279
Sobrado 1, Novo Mundo
81050-310 Curitiba, PR. Brasil
Phone: 55-41-99899-2333
bobbymichael_1@hotmail.com
For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280
Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online
Read more
Sharing the Gospel in Festivals, Schools, Public Squares, & More
July 5, 2022
Dear Friends,
Recently we hosted a group of 7 American Christian brothers and sisters who were led of the Lord to come work with us for a few days. They ministered together with our traveling evangelistic team, Projeto Vida. We traveled with them to a town about 2 hours from our home base to share the gospel in public schools and parks. During the week of their time with us we shared the gospel in school gymnasiums and auditoriums to over 1,500 students and faculty. In these public-school presentations, we are not allowed to give an invitation to come forward publicly professing Christ, but we were able to speak one-on-one with dozens of students and faculty members after each presentation and many of these shared that the Lord had spoken to them through the gospel message that was shared through testimonies, skits, and the preached word.
June is the first month of winter in southern Brazil and is also culturally a time of winter festivals. Our church takes advantage of this practice and puts on a gospel centered Winter Festival. This year was our most attended to date. We had a packed house for two consecutive services. One of the great benefits of this event is to engage almost all our church members in serving the visitors from the community with refreshments, games, and activities. Even greater is that the festival serves as an attraction for unchurched neighbors to attend. At each service the gospel was preached, and we have two new families attending regular Sunday services since that festival.
Another “most attended to date” event we had in June was our second married couples meeting of 2022. We put on 4 of these meetings per year with a two-fold focus: Present biblical principles for healthy and happy marriages and evangelize lost couples who attend. June 12th is Brazil’s closest thing to “Valentine’s Day” in the USA. So, on Saturday, June 11th we put on our Couple’s Night banquet, and we had 57 married couples present, our greatest number present for this type of meeting to date. Our own church members are encouraged to invite their unsaved friends, relatives, and co-workers and several of these were in attendance. Though there was no “invitation” to commit one’s life to Christ on the spot, I preached the gospel in my “marriage message”.
In the past few weeks our traveling evangelistic team ministered the gospel in 6 states and the Federal District of Brazil. In these locations, the main venue was public schools and public squares. The gospel was presented to 4,915 persons and we were able to hear a public profession of faith from 63 adults who also began a “next steps” Bible study course with a local church. There were many (hundreds) of students who prayed orally a “confession prayer” at our rallies, but we do not enter these numbers in our records since we are not able to converse with most of these individually because of time and institutional restraints. The Lord has blessed greatly, and we are thankful to you, our fellow-laborers, for your prayers and support of our ministries. May the Lord richly bless.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
Contact Info:
Bobby & Charlene Wacaser
Rua Laudelino Ferreira Lopes, 279
Sobrado 1, Novo Mundo
81050-310 Curitiba, PR. Brasil
Phone: 55-41-99899-2333
bobbymichael_1@hotmail.com
For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280
Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online
Read more
Two Recent Mission Trips
June 1, 2022
Dear Friends,
A huge part of the northeast region of Brazil is known as the “sertão,” or back-country. This area is the most impoverished part of Brazil, certainly financially, and almost equally spiritually poor. There is a lot of religion, yes, but it is mostly demon worship and idol worship. Our traveling team has just returned from a three-week expedition into this region and the Lord worked amazingly through them. In the schools, parks, and town squares the gospel was presented to over 15 thousand people and there were over 2,000 who publicly professed Jesus as their Savior and Lord.
Of course, our enemy, the devil was not content with how things were going, so he attempted to discourage and sideline our workers. Several came down with ailments from the poorly sanitized water and food. Others suffered from the extreme heat (95-103 degrees) while ministering cutting hair outdoors, carrying heavy equipment, and performing evangelical skits. None of them gave up, though, and they rejoice that many who were lost are now eternally saved through their faithful service and the sharing of the gospel.
The team didn’t even get a short rest from their 5,000-mile trip before they met with a visiting group of evangelists from Virginia and Charlene and me in a town two hours away from our own work. We all ministered in several schools where some of us translated for our visitors as they shared their testimonies and preached the word of God. Again, there were many professions of faith in Christ.
I was especially thrilled by the participation of a mother and daughter team from my church who helped with the translation. Debora and Melissa took time off work and school to volunteer as interpreters. Debora, the mother, was 11 years old when I contracted her father to help me remodel my home. We became friends day by day and eventually almost the entire family was evangelized and have become excellent servants of the Lord. Debora and her husband raised Melissa in our church, and she too has surrendered to Christ. Charlene taught Debora English as a youth and now her daughter Melissa, who’s 16 years old, speaks fluent English and both volunteered to assist the visiting American brothers and sisters by translating in school rallies and in one-on-one conversations. Again, we saw the Lord work amazingly and dozens of students and adults gave their lives to Christ through the gospel as it was translated.
After nearly two years of being strongly inhibited from ministering in public places because of COVID-19 restrictions, our volunteers are working hard at not losing any more time. The Alpha team just left today, after only a one-day break, to head out to the state of Minas Gerais, a 20-hour drive from our base where they will be ministering in the schools and parks there as well. We are so thankful for the willing hearts and dedication of these amazing, but humble servants of the Lord.
Some of these young workers were evangelized and discipled by veteran missionaries that you helped to support when they were active on the foreign field, but have had to retire for a variety of reasons, either age, health, or to take care of aged parents. This month is VETERAN MISSIONARIES PENSIONERS MONTH among missionaries and churches associated with Baptist Faith Missions. These servants who served faithfully with their spouses, but who can’t be on the foreign field any longer still need your prayers and support. If you sense that God is leading you, then please give as the Lord guides. Both they and you will certainly be blessed.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
Contact Info:
Bobby & Charlene Wacaser
Rua Laudelino Ferreira Lopes, 279
Sobrado 1, Novo Mundo
81050-310 Curitiba, PR. Brasil
Phone: 55-41-99899-2333
bobbymichael_1@hotmail.com
For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280
Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online
Read more
What’s a Missionary Wife’s Life Like?
April 22, 2022
Dear readers,
When I’m asked what a missionary wife’s life is like, I guess I have to say that it is as varied as there are missionary wives. This is true because every missionary wife has her own personality and her own set of skills and struggles that shape her. I’m certain that there are many circumstances and experiences that we missionary wives have in common just by the nature of our calling to leave our families, our home culture and language. But how we adjust to all of these is different in many ways because we are different in many ways.
Before anything else, though, I want you to know that I do not consider my life on the foreign mission field a sacrifice or a burden. I am thankful to the Lord for the life He has given me. Yes, I have my struggles and hardships, but I know that each and every one of you do too. Some of mine are completely different because of my calling, but many are very similar to yours. I am both happy and fulfilled in what the Lord is using me to do here in Brazil. I thank Him for the privilege to serve Him where I am.
Charlene 
Charlene & Bobby 
Charlene with some of their church ladies for Children’s Day 
Charlene
It is hard for me to put a title on my role, so I will just share some of the things that I do and not worry about titles. I help our couples’ ministry team leaders prepare for our outreach events. We usually hold 4 to 5 of these events per year. They are basically two-hour banquets, each with a different décor theme and different marital issues in focus. My husband, Bobby, usually brings a message addressing the marital principle in focus and always shares the gospel with the lost guests. My part is to help plan the décor and set up the auditorium for those who attend.
I also work with our children’s teaching ministry. We have put together a great team of volunteers who are gifted teachers and I assist them now. Through the course of our ministry and with each new church plant, I am usually the first and main children’s teacher as we begin to discover and develop new teachers from among our new converts.
Maybe one of my most important roles, though, is to assist Bobby in whatever he needs me to do. When he has to counsel women, he always has me with him, both for my female input and for ministerial integrity.
Our home life is one of the strongest illustrations of what we teach and of what he preaches, so I realize that I must give great attention to making it both pleasant and solid. We have raised our children and we now have an “empty nest,” but I want it to still be full of joy and love.
The hardest part for me as a woman is the absence of our children and our grandson. But I would rather be 5,000 miles away from them doing what the Lord wants me to do than to be in the same city with them when that’s not His will for me.
My prayer request is that Bobby and I will always be attentive to the Lord’s leading. We want to be in fellowship with Him so intimately that we will know when and where He is leading us to new opportunities to share the gospel and plant new churches.
I am really grateful to all of you who pray for us and for the faithful support to maintain our ministries.
Yours in the love of Jesus,
Charlene Wacaser
Contact Info:
Bobby & Charlene Wacaser
Rua Laudelino Ferreira Lopes, 279
Sobrado 1, Novo Mundo
81050-310 Curitiba, PR. Brasil
Phone: 55-41-99899-2333
bobbymichael_1@hotmail.com
For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280
Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online
Read more
False Accusation Leads to Positive Opportunity
March 23, 2022
Dear Friends,
We are often looking for opportunities to get the message of the gospel out to people who wouldn’t ordinarily receive it, and we pray for guidance so that we can recognize those opportunities when they arise. The Lord recently answered those prayers with an opportunity that I couldn’t have imagined if I tried to for a hundred years.
In May of 2021 I wrote about a man who had been a Satan-worshiper for many years that had been won to Christ by the witness and behavior of his teenage daughter who attended our church. After his conversion and baptism, he had begun to study the Bible and was growing steadily in his walk with the Lord. An amazing orchestration of events turned that man into a vessel of God in getting the gospel to men incarcerated in the jail system here in our state. After living decades in sinful behavior, but never suffering legal repercussions, he was falsely accused of assaulting a young woman and ended up in jail for several months awaiting judgement. He had shared with me that he was not guilty of the accusation, and I had given him a small Bible that he could easily keep with him and read while incarcerated. After all the investigations and testimonies, he was released last month. The amazing opportunity that I mentioned earlier is that, while in jail, he began to devour the Word of God daily and his spiritual life developed tremendously. Instead of being angry and upset that he was falsely imprisoned, he saw that God had placed him in there for a reason, so he sought to serve the Lord faithfully in his predicament. He told me that his situation there helped him to more fully appreciate how Jesus willingly died our substitutionary death on the cross, though He himself had never committed a sin. His name is Francisco, and now he and I are developing a ministry where he’ll use his inside knowledge of life in jail to reach the inmates with the message of God’s grace and forgiveness in Christ. He is presently working on obtaining his chaplain’s license and he and I meet from time to time to discuss how to implement this new ministry most effectively. We are also combining our Projeto Vida team’s gospel skit presentations to accompany Francisco on some of his visits to the inmates. I would never have dreamed that a false accusation could turn out as such a positive opportunity, but I am extremely thankful that the Lord doesn’t need to wait on my creativity to provide doors for sharing the gospel. Francisco told me recently that being arrested and sent to jail is the second-best thing that has happened to him. The first, his being saved by God’s grace.
We finally “bit the bullet” so to speak and began having double worship services on Sundays. Our attendance had reached near standing room only, so we knew we had to make the decision soon. We had an excellent turnout on our first Sunday and a lot of our folks helped us by choosing to attend the service that wouldn’t normally be considered regular “church time.” By their doing this, space was freed up for both services’ attendance to grow without overcrowding. We are so thankful to the Lord for this growth “problem” and I’m grateful that our people are willing to step out of their comfort zone in order to grow God’s kingdom.
Charlene and I are grateful to you who pray for us and give so that we can focus on God’s calling on our lives to plant churches and disciple new converts.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
Contact Info:
Bobby & Charlene Wacaser
Rua Laudelino Ferreira Lopes, 279
Sobrado 1, Novo Mundo
81050-310 Curitiba, PR. Brasil
Phone: 55-41-99899-2333
bobbymichael_1@hotmail.com
For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280
Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online
Read more
